Considering her band's wide-ranging sound and penchant for eclectic cover songs, it should come as no surprise to fans how diverse Halestorm singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale's musical tastes are. The frontwoman has been shaped by all kinds of music over her lifetime and career — from Cinderella to Jeff Buckley. Count among that list heavy-metal originators Black Sabbath and particularly their Ronnie James Dio–helmed classic Heaven and Hell. When we talked to Hale about the 10 albums that have shaped her as a person and an artist, she included that seminal LP among her picks. Below are her thoughts on its profound impact on her.
"Once I started to make the transition to guitar — because I was playing keyboards when we started Halestorm — I was trying to figure out riffs I could play without really having a lot of knowledge. And my dad ended up showing me Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, because he knew I loved Dio. So he asked me, 'Have you ever dug into this?' And I was like, 'No, this is awesome!' And one of the first riffs I learned was the title track, 'Heaven and Hell.' That riff, it gave me hope. Like, 'Awesome! I can play!'
"Dio's voice [was] so incredibly transcendent. And he wasn't afraid of strange subject matter — he never really aimed for the middle. It was always an extreme on one end or the other. I remember getting a lot of inspiration from that when I was first learning to write songs."
